The beginning of the 2012 Major League Soccer season is right around the corner and the folks over at MLS Soccer have released their first preseason power rankings. As expected the LA Galaxy are on top, while the New England Revolution get no love, as MLS Soccer ranks them below the expansion side Montreal Impact.

The Jay Heaps era got off to a winning start as the New England Revolution beat FC Tucson (Premier Development League) 2-0 in their 2012 preseason opener. Sainey Nyassi and Kenny Mansally were the Revs goalscorers.

Instead of the traditional two 45-minute periods, the match featured two 35-minute periods followed by an additional 45-minute period.

The New England Revolution could have filled two of needs with the signing of central defender John Lozano and midfielder/forward Fernando Cárdenas.

"Both John and Fernando have experience playing in Colombia's top division, both with and against some of CONCACAF's top club teams," Revolution General Manager Michael Burns said.

While the transfer window in Europe opens up in less than 48 hours, Major League Soccer teams have been busy since the season ended, rebuilding and retooling for next season. Here is a team-by-team look at what each side has done so far this offseason. Who has had the best offseason?

Chicago Fire

IN: G Jay Nolly (12/5: trade from Vancouver); F Kheli Dube (12/12: Re-Entry Stage 2/New England)

OUT: F Christian Nazarit (12/7: option declined); F Gabriel Ferrari (12/7: option declined); G Alec Dufty (12/12: option declined); M Baggio Husidic(12/12: Re-Entry Stage 2/Colorado); G Jon Conway (12/12: Re-Entry Stage 2/LA Galaxy)

Chivas USA

IN: M Ryan Smith (11/21: trade from Sporting KC); D James Riley (11/23: from Seattle, via trade from Montreal); M Arturo Alvarez (12/5: Re-Entry Stage 1/RSL); M Oswaldo Minda(12/21: SD Quito)

OUT: F Justin Braun (11/23: trade to Montreal); M Gerson Mayen (11/23: trade to Montreal); D Zarek Valentin (11/23: expansion draft); MPaulo Nagamura (11/29: trade to Sporting KC); D Andrew Boyens (12/12: Re-Entry Stage 2/LA Galaxy); F Chukwudi Chujindu (12/12: option declined); M Simon Elliott (12/12: out of contract); G Zach Thornton (12/12: option declined); D Mariano Trujillo (12/12: option declined)

Colorado Rapids

IN: M Baggio Husidic (12/12: Re-Entry Stage 2/Chicago); D Hunter Freeman (12/12: Re-Entry Stage 2/Houston)

OUT: M Sanna Nyassi (11/23: expansion draft); D Mike Holody (12/12: option declined); MBaggio Husidic (12/23: free/Hammarby)

Columbus Crew

IN: D Carlos Mendes (12/5: Re-Entry Stage 1/New York); G Matt Lampson (12/15: Home Grown)

OUT: D Josh Gardner (11/23: expansion draft); M Santiago Prim (11/23: waived); D Dejan Rusmir (11/23: waived); F Andrés Mendoza(12/6: option declined); M Kevin Burns (12/12: option declined); F Jeff Cunningham (12/12: option declined)

DC United

IN: D Robbie Russell (11/29: trade from RSL)

OUT: M Santino Quaranta (12/7: retired); DMarc Burch (12/12: Re-Entry Stage 2/Seattle); MClyde Simms (12/12: Re-Entry Stage 2/New England); M Brandon Barklage (12/12: option declined); G Steve Cronin (12/12: option declined); F Joseph Ngwenya (12/12: option declined); D Jed Zayner (12/12: option declined); D Devon McTavish (12/22: retired)

FC Dallas

IN:

OUT: D Edson Edward (11/23: waived); DJeremy Hall (11/29: trade to Toronto); F Maykel Galindo (12/12: option declined); F Maicon Santos (12/12: option declined); M Marvin Chávez (12/16: trade to San Jose)

Houston Dynamo

IN: M Nathan Sturgis (12/29: trade from Toronto)

OUT: F Brian Ching (11/23: expansion draft); MFrancisco Navas Cobo (11/23: waived); G Evan Newton (11/23: waived); F Carlo Costly (11/24: option declined); D Hunter Freeman (12/12: Re-Entry Stage 2/Colorado); F Jason Garey (12/12: option declined); D Eddie Robinson (12/12: option declined)

LA Galaxy

IN: D Andrew Boyens (12/12: Re-Entry Stage 2/Chivas USA); D Chris Leitch (12/12: Re-Entry Stage 2/San Jose); F Pat Noonan (12/12: Re-Entry Stage 2/Seattle); G Jon Conway (12/12: Re-Entry Stage 2/Chicago); M Marcelo Sarvas(12/13: free/Alajuelense); M Jose Villarreal(12/22: Home Grown)

OUT: D Gregg Berhalter (12/9: retired);G Donovan Ricketts (11/28: trade to Montreal Impact)

Montreal Impact

IN: D Nelson Rivas (10/3: free/Inter Milan, Italy); G Evan Bush (10/21: NASL Impact); D Sinisa Ubiparipovic (11/1: NASL Impact); M Hassoun Camara (11/3: NASL Impact); D Jeb Brovsky (11/23: expansion draft); D Bobby Burling (11/23: expansion draft); F Brian Ching (11/23: expansion draft); D Josh Gardner (11/23: expansion draft); M Justin Mapp (11/23: expansion draft); M Sanna Nyassi (11/23: expansion draft); D James Riley(11/23: expansion draft); D Seth Sinovic (11/23: expansion draft); M Collen Warner (11/23: expansion draft); D Zarek Valentin (11/23: expansion draft); F Justin Braun (11/23: trade from Chivas USA); M Gerson Mayen (11/23: trade from Chivas USA); D Tyson Wahl (11/23: trade from Seattle Sounders); M Bryan Arguez(11/25: free/Ft.

New England Revolution have re-signed captain Shalrie Joseph to one of the team's Designated Player roster spots.

Even at 33, Joseph was still one of the Revs better players last season, and re-signing him sends a message to the fans that the 2012 season will not be spent rebuilding.

In a move that baffles me, the New England Revolution have named the color commentator on the team's television broadcasts as their new coach.

I am shocked that with so many good coaches available, hello Garry Smith, that the Revs would hire a coach with no professional coaching experience.

The final numbers are in and Major League Soccer saw a 7% increase in attendance this year, from 16,675 fans per game to 17,870 fans according to MLSAttendance.blogspot.com .

Out of the 18 teams in MLS only four saw a decrease in average attendance. They were Chicago, Columbus, Philadelphia, and Toronto.

Not surprised to see the announcement that New England Revolution have fired head coach Steve Nicol. At the press conference after the Columbus game, Nicol had the look of a coach who knew his time was up.

Nicol leaves the Revolution after 10 seasons, a league record for tenure with a single club.

Gillette Stadium Before The Gates Opened

New England Revolution and the Columbus Crew met in the Revs last home game of what has been a miserable season. New England comes into this match with a record of 5-15-12 while Columbus is 12-12-8.

While the Revs are playing for pride, a win for Columbus puts them in the playoffs.

It was a beautiful night in New England and I took my daughter and her friend to see the New England Revolution play the San Jose Earthquakes. As usual we sat in The Fort, which was a lot smaller and quieter than earlier in the season. Whether that was due to the Revs overzealous policing of The Fort, or because of the Revs poor play this year, I don't know.

Diego Fagundez scored his second goal of the season on a night when he became the youngest player to start a game for the New England Revolution, but Fredy Montero responded with a pair of goals for Seattle Sounders FC as the visitors claimed a come-from-behind, 2-1 win at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night.

Diego Chara, Kenny Cooper and Darlington Nagbe all scored as the Portland Timbers beat the New England Revolution 3-0 on Friday night at JELD-WEN Field.

The loss snapped the Revolution's (5-12-12, 27 pts.) modest four-game unbeaten run, while the Timbers (10-12-6, 36 pts.) claimed their 10th win to climb past D.

Shalrie Joseph and Rajko Lekic scored either side of halftime and goalkeeper Matt Reis made eight saves to record his fifth shutout of the season as the New England Revolution snapped a seven-game winless run with a 2-0 win over FC Dallas on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium.

Joseph opened the scoring with his team-leading eighth goal of the season in the 14th minute, while Lekic provided an insurance strike – his sixth of the season – in the 84th minute to guarantee the Revs claimed all three points.

Sebastien Le Toux scored his second goal of the game in the 92nd minute to cap a remarkable second-half comeback as the Philadelphia Union erased a three-goal halftime deficit en route to a 4-4 draw with the New England Revolution on Wednesday night at PPL Park.

It marked the third straight game in which the Revolution (4-11-12, 24 pts.

Time: 8pm ET

Location: PPL Park, Chester, PA

TV: Galavision

At 4-11-11, the New England Revolution hold the worst record in the east. And they hold the ignominous honor of being the team the Union most thoroughly thrashed this season.

For the fifth successive game the New England Revolution conceded a goal after the 81st minute, and on Saturday it cost them three points against the New York Red Bulls.

In a rare example of offensive firepower the Revolution jumped out to a 2-0 half-time as the Milton Caraglio, the Revs first-ever desiginated player, scored his first two goals in MLS.

Bobby Boswell scored his third goal of the season in the 90th minute to claim a dramatic 1-1 draw for the Houston Dynamo against the New England Revolution on Wednesday night at Gillette Stadium.

Former Dynamo defender Ryan Cochrane had given the Revs (4-11-10, 22 pts.) an early lead with his first goal for the Revolution in the fourth minute, but Boswell broke through with Houston's (7-7-11, 32 pts.

Once again missed opportunities and defensive mistakes cost the New England Revolution as they lost 3-2 at home to Chivas USA on Saturday.

Revs coach Steve Nicol handed a debut start to Argentine forward Milton Caraglio, the Revolution's first-ever Designated Player and he almost made an immediate impact.

The New England Revolution ended a nine-game winless streak as goalkeeper Matt Reis stymied D.C. United with a string a super saves.

It was the Revs' (4-9-7, 19 pts.) first win since a 1-0 victory over Vancouver Whitecaps on May 14, while it was their first triumph away from home in 2011 after going 0-6-3 in nine previous road games.

Michael Owen. Federico Macheda (2) and Ji-Sung Park were the goalscorers as Man United kicked-off their North American tour with a comfortable 4-1 victory over the New England Revolution. Kenny Mansally got the Revs goal.

United started with Anders Lindegaard in goal, a back four of Fabio, Jonathan Evans, Nemanja Vidic and Rafael.

Manchester United arrived in Boston today to kick of their almost three way U.S. tour and United boss Sir Alex Ferguson had some interesting things to day at the press conference today.

Sir Alex was asked a question about Paul Scholes and he started to answer about how much United will miss Scholes and how he rates him alongside Xavi and Iniesta as the best midfield players in the world.

Jason Kreis had a message for Steve Nicol
One of the many criticisms of soccer is that it is boring and there is no scoring. No one said that about the match between the New England Revolution and Real Salt Lake. This game had it all. Fans were treated to red cards, goals, referee mistakes, crossbars and player scuffles.

There are many roads to becoming a professional player. A very select few are born with the God-given gifts of being an elite player without a healthy amount of coaching and training. After all, there's only one Messi, one Cristiano Ronaldo and few can add "dinho" to their name and remain sane.

Gillette Stadium Before The Gates Opened

The New England Revolution and the Chicago Fire met at Gillette Stadium tonight in a battle of struggling MLS teams.

The Fire had been a bogey team for New England as they had failed to beat Chicago in the previous 8 matches.

Live Commentary

First Half

9′ Nyassi sprung free with a great ball over the top from Mansally, he waited too long and got a bad angle though.

Another New England game and once again they were held scoreless as they were held to a 0-0 draw by Toronto last night at Gillette Stadium.

New England (3-7-5), which has the fewest goals (11) in MLS this season ran its winless streak to five matches (0-4-1), while Toronto (2-5-9) extended its own winless slump to seven (0-2-5).

It was one of their best performances of the season, but the New England Revolution still came up a little short at the end as they lost 2-1 to the New York Red Bulls Friday night.

New England made one change to the team that lost 1-0 at FC Dallas last week. Pat Phelan replaced Stephen McCarthy in central midfield.

New England's lack of offense hurt them once again this weekend as they lost their third straight game by a one-goal margin. After 13 league games, the Revolution have scored 10 goals, worse in the league. If you take out the 3 goals that the Revs scored against Sporting Kansas, they have scored a total of 7 goals in 12 league games.

As soon as I pulled into Gillette stadium you could tell that this was not a regular MLS game. Two hours before kickoff the parking lot was filling up as fans came to see the rockstars of Major League Soccer; David Beckham, Landon Donovan and the LA Galaxy.

A crowd of 21,793 saw the LA Galaxy beat the New England Revolution 1-0.

I was not expecting much from the New England Revolution's trip to Sporting Kansas for their U.S. Cup matchup, but I was not expecting a 5-0 hammering.

Revs coach Steve Nicol had more than one eye on Saturday's home match with the LA Galaxy, as he made 11 changes from the side that lost to San Jose at the weekend.

The New England Revolution lost 2-1 at the San Jose Earthquakes over the weekend, a lose keeps New England in 5th place in the Eastern Conference.

For the first time this season, Revolution head coach Steve Nicol was able to name an unchanged starting lineup and New England got off to a good start in San Jose, controlling possession in the early stages of the game.

Zack Schilawski
Drafted 9th overall in the 2010 MLS SuperDraft, Zack Schilawksi found himself doing something most kids dream about: being paid to play the game of soccer. It was with the New England Revolution who gave the Cary, NC native a new home in Boston.
In the early part of his career, Zack was scoring goals for Wake Forest University.

Photos: RevolutionSoccer.net
New England 1, Vancouver Whitecaps 0
It is becoming standard that any game involving the Vancouver Whitecaps will be exciting. This game was no exception. However, it was the home team, New England Revolution who provided much of the excitement. Much of this was due to new acquisition Benny Feilhaber, who appears to be settling in well with his new team.

It was not pretty at times, but a second half penalty from Shalrie Joseph was enough to give New England all three points against a game Vancouver side tonight at Gillette Stadium..

With the win, the Revs move to 3-3-4 and 13 points while the Whitecaps fall to 1-5-5 and 8 points.

First Half
The first half ended scoreless in what was a pretty drab affair to be honest.

Will be back in the press box for tomorrow's MLS clash between the New England Revolution and the Vancouver Whitecaps. Both teams come into the match badly in need of a win. The Revolution have 10 points from 9 matches while the Whitecaps have 8 points from 10 matches.

Last Match
New England were held to a scoreless draw at home to Colorado last Saturday, while Vancouver came back for a late 1-1 draw with the San Jose Earthquakes in midweek.

When Major League Soccer launched, its marketing seemed to have advertisement ADD. Football stadiums, family marketing, no-tie shootouts unlike anyone else in FIFA and ultimately an unreliable target audience. In its inaugural 1996 year, several of the MLS teams shared stadiums with their city's NFL counterparts.

Real Salt Lake's bad week continued as they lost to the expansion Timbers while the NYRB and Philadelphia Union continued their run with good wins.

Portland Timbers 1 Real Salt Lake 0
Kenny Cooper goal in the 22nd minute from a Kalif Alhassan cross was enough as the Portland Timbers hand Real Salt Lake its first Major League Soccer loss of the season.

The New England Revolution held on for a gutsy 3-2 win over D.C. United in the U.S. Open Cup play-in match last night. The Revs will now travel to face Sporting Kansas City with a spot in the formal U.S. Open Cup bracket on the line.

With two goals from Kheli Dube and one from Alan Koger, New England took a 3-0 lead after 69 minutes, and then had to hold on for dear life as D.

Back in the press box at a cold and damp Gillette Stadium for tonight's MLS match-up between the New England Revolution and Sporting Kansas.

Looking forward to seeing the newest Revs in action: Forward Rajko Lekic and midfielder Benny Feilhaber. New England will also have midfielders Shalrie Joseph and Pat Phelan back after both players missed the loss to Houston last weekend while serving one-game red-card suspensions for getting sent off against Real Salt Lake.

In a move that should excite its fan base the New England Revolution have acquired US national-team member Benny Feilhaber.

Feilhaber who is 26, who has played the last two seasons for Denmark's AGF Aarhus, signed with MLS on April 15, and as a returning U.S. National Team player, was available to teams through the allocation order.

The folks over at MLSSoccer.com have update their weekly power rankings. No surprise that Real Salt Lake is in first place. The Portland Timbers are one of the big winners moving up to four places after a week that consisted of two home games, seven goals and six points.

Major League Soccer Week 5 Rankings

1.